Indigenous Communities

The Venezuelan National Assembly passed a new law on Thursday to preserve, promote, and strengthen indigenous artisanship through legal recognition, the creation of indigenous artisan councils, and a special development fund.

On Tuesday, the day after the national government granted more than 40,000 hectares of land to Yukpa indigenous communities in northwestern Venezuela, assassins attacked the community of Yukpa chief and indigenous rights activist Sabino Romero, killing two and injuring at least four.

Celebrating 517 years of indigenous resistance to invasion and colonisation Venezuela marked Indigenous Resistance Day on Monday with the granting of title deeds to indigenous communities.

Venezuela's Interior and Justice Minister Tarek El-Aissami confirmed Sunday that Venezuela plans to increase its military presence in five locations along the northern region of the Colombian border called the Sierra de Perijá.

In honor of Indigenous Resistance Day, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez called on Europe to recognize the genocide which occurred, and delivered a number of resources to indigenous communities including land titles, funding, a roaming hospital, a school and an aqueduct.

Responding to President Chávez’s instructions last Sunday, Venezuelan government officials promised this week to accelerate the granting of land titles to Yukpa indigenous communities who have occupied private estates to demand their constitutional right to ancestral lands.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez pledged decisive support Sunday for the Yukpa indigenous people who have occupied 14 large estates in the northwestern state of Zulia to demand legal title to their ancestral lands.

A Venezuelan indigenous community belonging to the Yukpa ethnic group, which is demanding legal title to its ancestral lands, was attacked last week by hundreds of armed aggressors. According to the Yukpa, the aggressors were hired by elite landowners to evict the indigenous population from land each claim as theirs.

A protest against coal mining in the Sierra de Perija Mountains, in Venezuela's western state of Zulia, highlighted how mining there is hurting their health, the environment, and their livelyhood.